


Pretty Handsome Awkward

by vvitchering (Witchering)



Series: Witcher Prompt Ficlets [5]
Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: Crushes, Feelings Realization, Growing Up Together, Horny Teenagers, Jealousy, M/M, Oblivious Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia, Pretty Geralt of Rivia, Puberty, Young Witchers (The Witcher)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:22:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27788194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Witchering/pseuds/vvitchering
Summary: Prompt fill for an anon on tumblr who asked for Eskel's reaction to Geralt being called "pretty" and hit on by the other witchers.
Relationships: Eskel/Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia
Series: Witcher Prompt Ficlets [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1921558
Comments: 7
Kudos: 76





	Pretty Handsome Awkward

**Author's Note:**

> This is pre-relationship yet again, I'm sorry, but I find these "events leading up to realization of feelings" scenarios really compelling! Especially for this ship! :D Anyway, warning for teenaged boys being horny, I guess, but no actual sexual conduct.

Eskel prides himself on his even temper and calm demeanor. He’s been praised for those traits for years, told they’ll make him a great witcher some day, and he’s dutifully maintained the image of a good proper by-the-book witcher trainee ever since. Things just do not rile up him easily. Not the heckling of his classmates, not a failed attempt at a new sword technique, not even being stuck on dish washing duty for a month gets under his skin in any noticeable way. 

And then puberty had to go and hit Geralt like a goddamn ten ton fiend. 

Geralt, in contrast to Eskel, has always been a bit of a wild card. He was a small skinny child and painfully shy and nervous his first few months at the keep. With Eskel’s help and reassurance, he blossomed slowly into a cocky but ultimately likable teenager. He’s gifted with a sword, the best out of everyone in their class, though Eskel is still best at signs. His morals are strong and he has an annoying habit of always wanting to _help_. He’s a bit soft for a future witcher but he’s sharp and observant and has a real talent for strategy that will certainly serve him well on the path.

He also seems to become devastatingly handsome almost overnight. He fills in his lanky body with lean muscle. He sheds the last of the childhood plumpness in his face which reveals high regal cheekbones, a long straight nose, and a defined jawline. The trials change him further, bleaching his hair to a stark shining white that hangs straight and smooth and sharpening his canines to elegant deadly points. 

He’s the talk of the keep almost immediately. 

“Is that _Geralt_? Holy shit!”

“He’ll never want for a bed partner with those looks, lucky bastard.”

“Have you seen him up close yet? He’s _pretty_! Longest eyelashes in the cohort, for sure.”

Eskel listens to the other trainees gossip and gush and steadfastly refuses to participate. Geralt is his closest friend, he really has no desire to talk about him behind his back, even if the talk is flattering. Even if he agrees. 

Geralt _is_ pretty. His legs are long and well shaped and he insists on wearing pants that must be too small for him with the way they hug his ass. They can’t share clothes anymore, which pains Eskel slightly in a way he doesn’t quite understand. Where Geralt has grown up, Eskel has grown out. Now, Eskel’s shirts hang from Geralt’s thinner sleeker frame and Eskel can’t even get one of Geralt’s past his shoulders. 

They’re no longer mistaken for one another, which is another source of confusing pain Eskel will have to work through when he’s not busy panicking over how godsdamn attractive Geralt is. 

And all of that, he could still deal with. It’s when the comments turn decidedly more lecherous that Eskel feels, for maybe the first time, the urge to do something stupid. 

They’re eating breakfast one morning. Geralt is telling a story and waving his arms about like an idiot to illustrate some point he’s trying to make. More than half the table of trainees is paying rapt attention, food forgotten, despite the story not being very interesting. People tend to pay much closer attention to Geralt, now. 

“Eat your food, it’s getting cold.” Eskel grumbles to Aubry who’s sitting across from him and hasn’t taken his eyes off Geralt since he began his story. 

Aubry grins. 

“Dunno, Eskel. I think there’s something we’d all like to sink our teeth into a bit more than this sausage, if you catch my meaning” he said, and elbows Frank, the trainee to his right, who chuckles in agreement and gives Geralt a very obvious up and down look. 

Geralt, the moron, is oblivious to it all. Eskel grits his teeth. One part of him feels the old instinct to step in and protect Geralt, though Geralt hasn’t needed his protection in years, and Aubry and Frank truly haven’t done anything harmful. They’re a castle full of adolescent men with no outlets other than fighting and training. 

And fucking. 

The other part of Eskel shamefully _agrees_ with Aubry’s statement. He’d never risk his friendship with Geralt for a casual roll in the sheets. As much as he finds he cannot stop thinking about doing just that. But the fact that he’s stuck here, having to listen to others have similar thoughts? Intolerable. 

Geralt is hisfriend! His!

_His_. 

Oh no. 

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know anything about the other witchers. I literally just looked up their names in the wiki because I needed other characters, haha! 
> 
> Find me on tumblr and twitter @vvitchering


End file.
